Creative uses of Story Theater and Reader's Theater Scripts

As a Part of a School Assembly (UT)

I stumbled across this script last year when I was looking for ideas to use for a school assembly. It worked out very well. We asked the fifth and sixth grade teachers to pick out volunteers to help us. My co-worker booktalked for a few minutes while I organized the kids and explained a few simple stage directions. The readers wore silly glasses, the frog and chicken wore very silly hats (that I purchased from Oriental Trading), and the librarian wore a tiara and beauty queen sash (you know we all deserve it!). Without any rehearsal at all, the kids were able to pull it off very well. I am not sure the little kids "got" the punchline, but everyone laughed.

Summer Reading Program, Preble County Library (OH)

We used The Chicken and Librarian script during a program last summer. The staff from Children's Dept. and the Teen Dept. dressed up, using yellow rubber gloves for the chickens feet. The children laughed so hard we could barely keep a straight face. We repeated the program the next day. About 200 children saw the 2 productions.

Reader's Theater Program in Library, Dayton Metro Library (OH)

As a part of our 2008 Kids! @ your library Week celebration, I contacted one of the fifth grade teachers I work closely with to partner producing a RT program at the library. I would provide the space, publicity, programs and refreshments, and he would audition and rehearse with the students. I suggested using Carmen's The Library Dragon script, which he paired with an RT script of The Emperor's New Clothes. The room was packed with friends, family, and others as the eight students took over the program. They introduced themselves and put on a fine production. Interestingly enough, the teacher remarked to me later that one of the student performers was painfully shy, never volunteering to come forward for anything. Her family was especially proud of her courage to put herself "out there".